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'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' Post-Credits Scenes Explained by Director James Gunn

By John Boone 3:00 PM PDT, May 5, 2017

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Here's a first for a Marvel movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has not one, not two, three, or four, but five post-credits scenes. (As well as a fun Easter egg nods to Thor: Ragnarok. Look out for the Jeff Goldblum cameo as the credits roll.)

Some of the sequences are fun bits that don't require much explanation-- like Kraglin (Sean Gunn) inheriting Yondu's whistle-controlled arrow, or Stan Lee insisting that he has more stories to tell the Watchers. Others require a bit more of a breakdown. And though writer-director James Gunn previously claimed that his tags are all "stupid sh*t," that could not be further from the truth. Here, Gunn reveals the post-credits scenes' significance in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Starhawk and the 3000 Guardians: Sylvester Stallone's role in Vol. 2 was kept secret as long as humanly possible and now we know why: He plays Stakar Ogord, aka Starhawk, a superhero who, alongside Yondu (Michael Rooker), fronted the original Guardians lineup when the comics debuted in 1969.

Onscreen, Stakar has been reimagined as a fellow Ravager and, following Yondu's death, he rallies their former team to, as he puts it, "steal some sh*t." The other members of this crew should prove familiar to long-time comic book fans: Charlie-27 (Ving Rhames), Aleta Ogord aka the female Starhawk (Michelle Yeoh) and Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum). The roster is rounded out by Doctor Strange protégée, Krugarr, and the android operating system called Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus).

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"Every tease that we had at the end of the credits is something that's meant to become a bigger part of the Marvel cosmic universe as we move forward into the next decade," Gunn, who recently confirmed that he will return to write and director Vol. 3, told ET. When asked whether we will see Stallone in future films, Sly himself joked, "If he's smart, we won't." "As long as he agrees to do it," Gunn retorted. "He's definitely going to continue on in the MCU."

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Adam Warlock: After being thwarted by the Guardians, high priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) must answer to The Sovereign's Council. "They are perturbed that I wasted their resources," she laments from her gilded throne, before revealing that she created a cocoon to further evolve her people and get her revenge on the Guardians. "I think I shall call him... Adam."

The gilded pod undoubtedly holds Adam Warlock, a comic book character who has been anxiously anticipated since a cocoon seen in The Collector's museum in the first Guardians movie was mistaken for an Adam Warlock Easter egg. Warlock, also known simply as Him, is a Christ-like humanoid who was a significant player in defeating Thanos. (That won't be the case in the Cinematic Universe, as he will not be introduced until after Infinity War and the untitled fourth Avengers film).

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"We got some teasers at the end of the movie of what might occur in Guardians Vol. 3," Gunn said. "I've known for a little while where the movie is going to go and where the characters are going to go. So, I think it's just really about telling the full story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy. This will be one long story made up of three movies."

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Teenage Groot: How quickly Baby Groots grow up... After regenerating at the end of the first movie, everyone's favorite talking tree has hit puberty, becoming an angst-y teenager who spends his time playing "mindless" video games and arguing with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) about cleaning his room. "Now I know how Yondu felt," Peter sighs.

"It's an awesome thing for an audience to be able to see a character actually grow up, to have kids who saw adult Groot in the first one and Baby Groot in the second one be able to grow up with him a little bit as these movies come out every couple years," Gunn said. (Vin Diesel, who voices Groot, likened his first appearance to "sophomore year of college" Groot and explained that we have yet to see "gigantic" Groot.)

As for whether or not it was hard to say goodbye to Baby Groot so soon, Gunn said, "It was. I'm always hoping for the Baby Groot prequel, the Baby Groot cartoon series -- I'm sure all these things will exist. I'm saying them as a joke, but they are going to happen!"